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ARTPOP: The End Of An Era

Little monsters everywhere are suffering from post-ArtRAVE depression after the last ArtRAVE took place in Paris just last week.

The event was extra special as the Lady Gaga concert was streamed live worldwide thanks to Yahoo and LiveNation. Monsters that had attended the previous ArtRAVE concerts were able to relive their night by watching the stream, and fans that had never been to a Gaga concert were able to watch it live and pretend that they were in the audience with the hundreds of thousands of fans that were in Paris Bercy.

{If you missed it, the video is at the end of this post}

Fans tweeting during the live stream and performances meant that the stream fast became a hot topic of conversation on Twitter and fans were able to share the experience with each other, just how Gaga would like it!

Gaga performed her biggest hits such as Bad Romance and Alejandro, and featured her songs from her latest solo album ARTPOP. The album was released last year in November 2013 after a long process of planning and creating that began soon after The Born This Way Ball ended in February 2013.

With creative and fabulous outfits, confetti that burst over the fans, acoustic piano sessions, and changing outfits and wigs on the stage rather than backstage, fans were able to see Gaga stripped back and ready to be glammed up for the next song, ready to rave with the audience.

With songs like Swine, Mary Jane Holland and MANiCURE, and more well-known tracks Applause, G.U.Y., Venus and Do What U Want, Gaga gave viewers and the audience an electric performance, encouraging the fans to let their hair down and get crazy.

Audiences moved and danced to the music, but they were also moved by Gaga’s words. Lady Gaga tells them, “When I die, they’ll say Lady Gaga was special, but her fans, her Monsters, they were really something“. Looking out into the crowd, it must be amazing to see so many fans dressed to the nines in costumes that they’ve created themselves (inspired by your own creations), holding presents ready to throw on stage to her (usually customised jackets, letters cuddly toys), or banners with words of admiration and love for Gaga, the album, her dancers and the tour.

The live stream neared its end with the song Swine, where Gaga and the fans jump up and down to the techno song waving glow sticks and singing along. Gaga went backstage after the song ended to change her costume for the last song, an emotional ballad that she would play on her piano called Gypsy.

It was at this moment, with Gaga gone from the stage, that fans in the stadium took the balloons that they had been given from a set of fellow fans and blew them up. The plan was simple, surprise Gaga with the numerous balloons when she stepped back on stage and release them all at the climax of the song Gypsy (when she sings ‘Toniiiiiiiiiiggghhhttt!’).

The look on Gaga’s face was priceless when she returned to her stage, to see the masses of fans waving thousands of balloons around the stage, bearing banners that read “Thank you for this artRAVE”. She gasped and held her hand to her face, clearly blown away and emotional from the surprise that the fans had planned for her.

The sight of the fans holding the balloons and cheering was truly a sight to behold. As a fan myself, it was very emotional to be saying goodbye to an era that was solely about the conjunction of art and pop culture, encouraging creativity, freedom and positivity. The fans then began to sing “All we hear is Radio Gaga”, taken from the Queen song that inspired her name. The concert ended with Gaga singing Gypsy, a song which signifies her travelling the world and finding home away from home with the people that she loves (Taylor, her family, or her little monsters).

Fans of Gaga will have to wait for her Cheek to Cheek tour with Jazz singer Tony Bennett to see her on tour again, and who knows when Gaga will tour with another pop album? But in some of Gaga’s last words at the artRAVE: “the clock will start ticking. Until next time.”